Power April 2022 Intl - 33

INSTRUMENTATION & CONTROL
much easier for customers. Another advantage
is that the commissioning time
is reduced from several days to a few
hours, because the entire virtualized
system can be set up and tested in advance
at an offsite location.
3. Design of a virtual control system compared to a classical physical control system. Courtesy:
Siemens Energy
Physical Versus Virtual Setup
In a classic physical system installation,
different layers are placed on top of each
other on a single piece of hardware starting
with the drivers, followed by the data
layer, and the application layer. If the hardware
is to be replaced with a newer version,
the software for each of the three
layers must be updated separately-and
on each individual piece of hardware. In
a virtual system, however, the data and
application layers are based on a virtual
machine, while the drivers are part of the
virtualization software, which is the first
layer on the hardware.
The virtualization software is also
known as a hypervisor and virtually
recreates the hardware to the virtual
machine. It provides the link between
actual hardware (the data center) and
virtual machine (the control technology).
The virtual machine is therefore
no longer directly dependent on the
hardware (Figure 3). If a hardware component
is replaced in this system, only
the virtualization software must be reinstalled,
while the data and application
layers can be transferred unchanged.
For voestalpine Stahl, this resulted in
a significant simplification in terms of
hardware and software lifecycle management.
In addition, system administration
is greatly simplified because
everything can be managed from a central
point, the data center. Hardware dependency
is significantly reduced, and
the system can be easily scaled. Service
and maintenance work can also be carried
out much more easily and quickly.
Complete Replication with Installed
Server Landscape
A virtualized control system, therefore,
April 2022 | POWER
makes sense both for modernization
projects and for new power generation
units. In the case of modernization projects,
the virtual control system can also
be set up on the existing hardware, provided
it isn't too outdated.
For the virtualization of the power
plant control system, all components
that are typically used in the Siemens
Energy control system-from the application
server to the terminal and security
servers to the thin clients-are
virtualized in the data center and made
available as a virtual machine. If existing
hardware is used to set up the virtual
control technology, there is no visible
difference for the customer. The virtualized
control technology will later be
operated via real thin clients, which
are used to control the virtualized thin
clients in the data center that have the
necessary system performance. Again,
there is no visible difference.
However, the requirements for the
real thin clients are much lower, since
they are only used for " remote control "
of the actual thin clients. As a result,
they can also be replaced quite easily.
Likewise, commercially available tablet
computers can also be used as thin clients,
allowing the system to be operated
regardless of location. A running
session can be continued on another
thin client.
One of the biggest advantages of virtualizing
a power plant control system
is that customers become much more
flexible with hardware. Both existing
hardware and new hardware can be
used, or both can be combined, because
hypervisors are used to replicate
the hardware needed for the control
technology. This makes a lot of things
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Management from a Single Point
For voestalpine Stahl, the decision to
use virtualized control technology has
resulted in a simpler and better overview,
since the entire system can be
managed from a single point. All virtual
machines are displayed in the data center
user interface and can be configured
there. System performance can also be
monitored there at any time, and backups
can easily be created for quickly
restoring the complete system in the
event of an emergency.
" This results in massive improvements
and simplifications in our handling
of the system, " said Rehberger. " One of
the main arguments in favor of the Siemens
Energy control system, in addition
to the hardware-independent solution,
was the simplified lifecycle management, "
he added.
A customer choosing a virtual control
system today can easily make a major
upgrade in two or four years without having
to first make any substantial change
to the hardware. And if the data center's
performance is no longer sufficient, it
can be easily scaled up with additions.
This ensures significant cost benefits.
Overall, the initial cost of deploying
a virtualized control system is admittedly
slightly higher than that of a
conventional system because of the
added cost of virtualization software.
However, when considering the entire
lifecycle of a power plant, which is typically
about 20 years, there are significant
cost benefits.
Customers are increasingly asking
whether virtualized I&C is going to be
the new standard in the power industry
and for industrial power plants. While it's
impossible to predict the future, virtualization
will be an important topic going
forward because it brings great advantages.
Some plant operators will certainly
consider such a solution in the future.
Besides choosing this innovative control
technology modernization, voestalpine
Stahl is also working with Siemens
Energy on innovative hydrogen projects
aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions
in steel production. ■
-Timo Belfiore is solution manager for
Service Controls and Digitalization
at Siemens Energy.
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Power April 2022 Intl

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